"Electric Fields are generated from charge imbalances between two
materials or within the same material. An electric field can exist
in free space or between some materials. An electric field exerts a
force on a unit charge causing it to move (if positive) in the
direction of lower potential. This force is derived from the charge
being acted upon, the distance the charge is from the field and the
field strength. The electric field strength is proportional to the
inverse square of the distance R between your test point and the
charged surface.

E= 1/(4P e o) *
(QT/R2) Equation VII-1

A field meter is used to measure electric fields. An electric field
is the collective energy of a multitude of unbalanced surface atoms
(QT), i.e., charged surface. An electric field is defined by the
force a positive unit charge would undergo or force per unit charge.
The units of an electric field are (Newtons/Coulombs) or
(Volts/Meter).

The electric field strength (|E|) is proportional to the inverse
square of the distance (1/R2) from the charged surface. This is to
say that the force an electric field (which is born from a charged
surface) would have on a charge (unit test charge in the field) is
proportional to the inverse square of the distance of the charge to
the source of the electric field (charged surface)."

Comment:

Ocean is significantly more conductive than land. What that then
means for capacitive coupling between ionosphere and surface is that
over land it is much easier for charges separated in the clouds
to 'short' to ground over land as compare to water, where charges
separated from convection can simply orient and move and dissapate
without shorting to the surface from the cloud. This then has a huge
significance relative to secondary shorts between inosphere and cloud
top, and convection or thunderstorms over land then are set up to
power the most intense couplings between ocean and ionosphere that
organize tropical storms. These organizing features--especially in
the context of the inverse square law, help to appreciate some of the
features of a dual set of storms like Willy and Ingred. These rules
explain the timing, distance from land, and distance in relation to
one another. (The China paper is the underlying cloud microphysics
paper that lays foundation to how large scale electrical features
force small scale cloud behaviors: http://www.ichmt.org/abstracts/Vim-
01/abstracts/04-01.pdf).

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